PutnamEco
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Posts posted by PutnamEco
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Over on Toolmonger
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The real problem with Proto is the availability. The places that offer the best selection are the supply houses and you know how that goes. You get Snap-On or better quality without paying for the truck, if you can find a good selection.
MSC Industrial Supply is your friend for Proto. Got to love online retailers.
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I really like the Makita 2705 too, but the portability of the Bosch GTS 1031 is a really tempting feature.
I think the littlest Bosch saw is really small and is limited to an 18" rip. If you can live with that small form factor it could be the saw for you. On occasion I need to rip sheets of plywood in half and found saws in the size range of the 1031 would just not cut it.
After seeing someone use a Rousseau 2700XL Portamax table saw stand I also wanted to make sure I had a saw that I could use should I end up with one of them.
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The damascus knives aren't as insanely expensive as they were a few years ago. Still expensive, but they've come down in the last year or so. They are beautiful whatever the cost.
There is a big difference in quality between a cookie cutter production knife and a hand forged blade. A lot of knife makers will argue that you really can't make good Damascus steel on a production machine.
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The hardest part of stick welding is striking an arc, when I was learning, I was shown that a piece of copper can make life a lot easier, just put the copper near where your starting your weld and hit the copper when you want to start. The stick will not get stuck on the copper and will allow you a second or two to get your bearings through the glass. Probably learn a lot more in an hour with an experienced welder than with a month of web browsing, not saying there are not some good tips to be found on the web, but a pro will find where you are going wrong, and point you in the right direction.
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But I must admit the overload protection seems to be poor and have had many reports of batteries becoming faulty with the same 2 cells going down on a large number.But as a balance the people who reported these problems also reported multiple batteries replaced free of charge well out of warranty.
It would seem only the newest batteries are giving problems, my hunch is that they are using a new manufacturer to produce their batteries, another case of "value engineering" gone wrong. Most of the manufacturers seem to go for the high output cells that don't last long, since very few journalist do long term testing, and the manufacturers want to put on a good show for the press.
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One of my buddies has a larger Dewalt angle grinder, I believe a 9", that he has been using heavily since the age of the dinosaurs. I wonder what Dewalt was thinking when they chose to go with yellow, that has got to be one of the quickest colors to show off the grunge and grime that tools pick up, almost as bad a those white Makitas.
Proto does make some decent tools, I have one of their keychain screwdrivers on one of my keychains for 25-30 years now. Proto are pretty well known where I'm from, they are a lot more affordable than Snap-on.
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Got to use a Rothenberger pipecut 200 and was very impressed.
That tool is beyond the scope of my work. Seems like an interesting piece of equipment.
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Why?
Run time....
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The Bosch is very Good and the fein lithium ion is the one I like the look of.
Yeah, but that 18v LXT battery on the Makita is what has my interest.
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Reminds me of a room mate I used to have, he sold these incredibly cheap and horrible quality Chinese ratchet sets and wrenches from the back of his car. He used to go out on the road to sell them though, anyplace he saw people congregating was fair game for him. He made surprisingly good money doing it too.
I remember feeling like Superman using those tools, whenever you worked them, something always either bent or broke. We went through an absolutely hilarious amount of sockets and ratchet handles swapping out a starter from his car.
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I've got my eye on that LXT multi-tool
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Dubstep is a pretty wide ranging genre, that I sometimes enjoy. I haven't gotten past most of the more popular stuff yet.
mellow
Darker
So, What are you listening to these days?
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I'm always interested to hear new music. I find it helps some of those long boring days to go by much quicker.
I have really wide ranging tastes, some of what I'm listening to these days.
Something mellow
I always enjoy a little AntiFolk music
Sorry, but you have posted more media files than you are allowed to
To be continued below....
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Re: multi function drills that can switch from hammer to drill only to impact driver all in one tool
I prefer to keep it simple, I have found that tools that do just one job are often the best. Often with multifunction tools, they make comprises to allow for the extended range of functions.
I'm waiting for them to bring in their 36v yard tools myself. I want to see how they stack up against Stihls.
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We call those type of sales flea markets here in the states. Most do not charge entry for the customers only for the vendors. Your lucky Wayne most of the stuff sold here in our flea markets is junk. In more affluent areas sometimes the pickings are a little better, but just as often they have only newer junk.
I find my best bargains in pawn shops. Most often for uncommon tools that the pawn shops proprietor is not knowledgeable about, 50/50 chance of it being overpriced or under priced. Older tools are often what I do best on.
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I would like to know what tools do you still use today, that have withstood the trial and tribulations of years of service?
I have a few, First off I'll mention my favorite tool, the original Black & Decker Super Sawcat. It has broken down a few times, once the fan broke loose from the armature, and the front grab handle split around the mount after taking a hit. Other than that this saw just won't quit. My Milwaukee 6368 has never broken down other than wearing out brushes. I should probably mention that I do maintain my tools, taking them apart and cleaning and regreasing them at least once a year, if not more often. I don't take these saws on the jobsite any more, as repair parts are next to nonexistent, but I do use them in the shop, and for my own personal jobs.
My Milwaukee HoleShooters are going on 25 years old and still hanging in there. I have both the 1/2" and 3/8" and prefer the 3/8" for daily use. I have an even older 50s era 1/4" Black & Decker drill that I inherited from my father that I still use occasionally out in the shop.
I have an old Craftsman 24" level that I keep around the house for leveling shelves and pictures etc., that was the first level I purchased back about 35 years ago. It is still accurate.
For an utterly ridiculous tool that has lasted far longer than it has a right to, Is a razor knife I was issued from my first job as a stock boy, it is one of those folded tin knives that holds a single sided razor blade in another piece of folded tin, that deploys by sliding in and out like opening and closing match box. Sitting in the top of my mechanics tool box still being used often to open packages. Speaking of razor knives, after a couple years of using that knife daily I upgraded to a Stanley 99 which remarkably lasted many years as well, until I lost it from a tool roll that fell from my motorcycle during a commute in the early 90s . Now that I think about it, I still have a few of those tools that I bought to replace that lost tool roll. A pair of fuller slip joint pliers, a Stanley ratcheting screwdriver, and a Crescent adjustable wrench.
I also have numerous Snap-on and SK ratchets, sockets, and wrenches that are getting rather old, as well.
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The XC battery was around a good while before the jig saw and the band saw. I remember speculating that it may come with one.
I could speculate that they had the whole product line planned before hand and released in a staggered fashion, so as to keep the brand in the news for a longer period of time, with a lot of different new tools released throughout the year rather than releasing the whole line of tools at one time, and the xc battery was designed and released later in the process. It could also be by design, to get you to spend more money on upgrading your tools.
I have to think that there may be something funky in Milwaukee land as they really shortchanged the V18 line as well.
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I don't understand why if Milwaukee was only going to include 1 battery with some of their more power thirsty tool like the M12 Jig saw, band saw, etc., they didn't make it an XC.
Probably because the larger battery is a late comer and they had already geared up to produce the kits by the time it was made available.
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Well, at least there is still a few manufacturers left. Are Marples chisels still made in the U.K. ? I know Irwin is now their parent company.
I know the the Francis Barker m-73 is still made in the U.K. as well, it is still one of the best in the world.
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Seems like just about everything is made in China these days. The number of tools made in USA is dwindling fast. No more circular saws being made in the country that invented them is really sad. I would think there would be some kind of niche that an American manufacturer could carve out in the high end tool market, if people here are willing to pay Festool prices, it would seem to me they would find the money to buy American, especially if it was a first rate tool and or built out of exotic materials like carbon fiber and titanium. I don' t have to look far to see how this could be, I just look at brands like Harley Davidson and the niche/lifestyle they have carved for themselves. Snap-on has quite the following as well, although they may be diluting their brand by licensing it to some less than stellar accessory companies.
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Stabila also did a level in black for their 120th anniversary.
None of my local rental agencies have any laser levels for rent.
If I had wanted to spend half a day driving I could go pick one up. -
Are there any domestically produced power tools in the U.K. ?
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I have the earlier model of this saw. Yes, the stand is nice. It does chew up stairs if you try and drag it up them though. Bigger wheels would make this so much nicer to drag both up stairs and around the job site. I think most tool designers forget that these tools get used outside and have to deal with backhoes and bulldozers tracks not to mention the muck and the mud. The arbor on this saw is a little on the short side so you not going to be putting much of a dado stack on it. The rip fence stays true. The table extension, when extended, makes a nice place to mount a router that can use the saws fence, possibly eliminating the need to drag a router table along. The soft start is nice. If you hook it up to a shop vac, it collects 90% of the sawdust. I have heard of the outside armature bearing going out, as it is not sealed very well, but mine has not failed yet. I would buy another one if mine broke down.
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If I had wanted to spend half a day driving I could go pick one up.
What tools do you use that have stood the test of time?
in Pub Talk
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Do our iconic American mechanics tool brands actually have any pull over there across the pond?